Don't Love Fairy Tales, Then
by Jedi Eowyn
Summary: Several years after Endless Waltz, the Preventer team of Chang Wufei and Sally Po runs over some rocky ground.


Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. This story doesn't exactly fit accurately into any timeline, so just think of it as alternate reality. 

Don't Love Fairy Tales, Then 

Wufei slammed his fist into a punching bag. "Damn onna," he muttered angrily to himself. Who did the woman think she was anyway, mouthing off to him like that? He gave the bag another hit, releasing his anger into an unfeeling medium. Sally Po might be his equal in the ranks of the Preventer Corp, but the stupid baka had no right to tell him how to carry out missions. He was the combat expert, the Gundam pilot, she could just keep her high-minded reprimands to herself.   
He could still see her, ice-blue eyes blazing as she stood in the hallway outside the briefing room, where they had just finished giving the report of their last mission. "Wufei, you can't keep on fighting like this! We're not in the middle of a war anymore! If you defeat a smuggling ring, that's great, but blowing up their headquarters in the middle of the city does nothing but hurt civilians and give the guilty time to escape! The innocent aren't miles away anymore, they're right under our feet, mingled with the people we're fighting!"   
Wufei couldn't remember exactly how he had replied, something to the effect that, if weaklings were stupid enough to get themselves tangled up in the dealings of an obviously shady business, then they deserved what they got, and stupid women would do well to stay out of his affairs!   
The argument had carried on for some time after that, ending when Sally finally lost her patience. "I'm sick of this! Why don't you just find yourself another partner, if your so tired of being stuck with a 'weak woman'! Good-bye!" She had stalked off, leaving him stunned, unable to reply, and not knowing what to say if he had been able.   
Growling at the memory, Wufei attacked the punching bag again. He preferred a live opponent, but the training area had been quickly vacated when he showed up. No one was willing to face him when he was this mad, especially considering that he had defeated most of the members of the base already. Sally was the only one who could challenge him, and she was gone, having left for another base. He didn't want another partner, dammit! He and Sally worked well together, and despite what he had said, he did not consider her to be weak, or foolish. Her compassion and caution sometimes made straightforward missions complicated, but he wouldn't trade those "faults" for anything else.   
Behind him, he was aware of a junior officer approaching. "What?" he snarled irritably, turning towards the younger man.   
The officer gulped, withering under Wufei's glare, "Incoming call from Commander Sally, sir."   
"Declined." Wufei snapped, turning away; he didn't want to talk to her, not now.   
"But sir-"   
He broke off as Wufei turned back, his black eyes flashing. "Is your hearing faulty? I said that I will not accept the call. Dismissed!"   
Blanching, his subordinate managed to stutter, "Y-yes sir", and escape from the gym.   
With a snarl, Wufei turned back to his training, trying to forget his anger and loneliness in physical activity. Several hours later, he was on his way to his quarters when he stalked by Commander Noin--almost. He stopped at her exclamation of surprise and found her looking at him as if she was seeing a ghost. "Wufei! What are you doing here?"   
"I'm stationed here." he reminded her in a barely controlled growl, "Have been for the past two months. Is there somewhere else you expected me to be?"   
"I thought you and Sally were out on an emergency mission! Command sent the call out, one of the smuggler groups you guys were helping with turned out to be more powerful than we thought--there was information about providing weapons to rebel leaders. I thought you two had been sent out, but that was hours ago."   
Suddenly, Wufei remembered the call he had gotten from Sally, the one he had refused to receive. Had she tried to contact him about the mission? Would she have gone alone after not being able to contact him? "Shit!" he spat, sprinting down the hall to the mobile suit storage, leaving a bewildered Noin in the corridor behind him.   
As soon as he reached his Gundam, he activated the communication system, requesting Commander Sally. It seemed to take forever, but finally the reply came. "Commander Sally is currently off base and unavailable. Would you like to leave a message?"   
"No." He disconnected and, in the privacy of his Gundam, allowed himself to slump dejectedly in his seat, a sign of weakness that he usually would not have allowed himself. So she had actually gone off without him. Before he could have hoped--had hoped--that she wouldn't actually break their alliance, that she had simply been angry and had acted out of temper. Now it was official.   
"What should I do, Nataku?" he asked, but neither his Gundam nor the spirit of his wife answered. Probably because the answer was obvious. He would have to find another partner, or go into command, neither of which were pleasant options. _Or, I could apologize, ask her to forgive me, promise that I'll be more considerate_. But Wufei's pride instantly balked at that idea. Why should he have to go crawling to her, a woman, asking for forgiveness, begging to be taken back? The idea was ridiculous! _But still . . ._   
Wufei switched his Gundam to simulation mode and focused on the targets in front of him, trying to ignore the nagging ellipsis that his mind had left hanging. Anyway, he couldn't do anything now, Sally was off on her mission. Requesting a new partner would require loads of paperwork, and Sally was the one that took care of . . . His mind caught the snag, and his loss of concentration allowed several of the targets in front of him to escape. Damn! He hadn't realized just how much he depended on her! Well, he couldn't do anything until Sally got back from her mission in any event, they would both have to be present when their superiors were informed.   
Distracted as he was, Wufei gave no thought to the actual mission, assuming that Sally would simply be leading several troops in a raid and arrest, a routine mission that they had both executed hundreds of times. This proved not to be the case.   
As he was finishing the simulation exercise, the communication links in his cockpit flared to life. It was a broad-band message on all Preventer frequencies. The screen showed a mottled, wavering mosaic of color, the sender of the message obviously did not want his face seen.   
"Preventer leaders," crooned a voice, self-satisfied and arrogant, "Congratulations, you seemed to have found out about my little operation here." Quickly, Wufei did a check with Atlong's communications unit. The message was originating from one of Western Eurasia's larger cities. He tried to cut through the static that masked the message's sender, but the comm was only drawing audio data, the visual link was dormant. "You may even now be sending troops in to deal with me," the voice continued, "but I would advise you to think again." Wufei began to feel uneasy. Supposedly, Sally had already been sent to round up this smuggling ring. If so, why was the man acting as though an invasion was imminent? His question was answered much more quickly than he would have liked.   
The video screen flickered on, showing a slumped figure held up by two large men. A light was focused on the captive, and Wufei felt a spear of ice plunge through his heart. It was Sally! "We've caught your little spy, Preventers. Very nice of you to send her alone, it made the capture easier, but, of course, it would have made no real difference, we would simply have had two hostages instead of one. Yes, Preventers, I said hostage. I have a business deal to take care of, and I will allow no interference. If my men get any hint of an attack, then she will be killed. _Any_ hint of attack." From outside the range of the screen, a lash was extended and scraped along Sally's chin, forcing her to raise her lowered head. "Pretty thing, isn't she, Preventers? Don't worry, we won't keep her forever, just long enough to finish our little operation here, and then you can have her back." The lash was retracted, and Sally spat in the general direction of the speaker. A snarl was heard off screen, and the speaker concluded the message with, "I'd be careful if I was you, Preventers, my men can be, ah, overly enthusiastic at times. Farewell."   
The screen went blank, and Wufei growled a choice phrase that he had picked up from one of the less reputable members of Duo's Sweeper group. The stupid fool! She had gone _alone_ on an infiltration mission! One of the first rules about combat missions was that there should always be a backup, to prevent exactly this circumstance!   
As quickly as it had come, his anger evaporated, leaving him with an overwhelming sense of guilt and gut-wrenching worry. He should have been there! If he hadn't been so damn stubborn, he would have been with her, and none of this would have happened.   
He started to flick switches all over the cockpit, preparing for flight. The Preventer leaders wouldn't allow a hostage to stop them from their duty, they would proceed with whatever attack plans they had made, knowing that the smugglers weren't planning to return their captive in one piece. The warrior side of Wufei could recognize and appreciate that view, but some other, long hidden part was screaming at him, he had to save her! Suddenly nothing else mattered but the fact that Sally was in danger, and nothing was going to stop him.   
Unfortunately, the other Preventers were not aware of this. As he was taking off, his comm screen flickered on, showing Noin's worried face. "Wufei, what are you doing?"   
"I'm going to get Sally." he answered, as he flew out of the hangar.   
"Wufei! If they see you, they'll kill her!"   
"They won't see me." And they wouldn't. His Gundam might not have the stealth abilities that Deathscythe had, but there were other ways of reaching a target unnoticed.   
"You don't know that! Return to the base now!" her eyes narrowed. "That's an order!"   
"I'm not your subordinate. You don't have the authority to order me back."   
"Wufei, you'll be court martialed!"   
"I don't care." He disconnected the comm on her spluttered reply. "What are you going to do woman, shoot me down?"   
Wufei linked to the Preventer's main computers and brought up all their information on the smuggling group, which was extensive. He wondered why they had put off a raid so long as he downloaded partial blueprints of the building, guard stations, approximate security systems, and any other information he thought might be useful. He found the answer to his question when he discovered the orders for the mission. This smuggler's group specialized in ground-based defensive weapons, and had built up an impressive defense front. Originally, Sally and he were supposed to disable the group's defenses from the inside, but when she had been unable to contact him, she had gone alone. And been caught.   
As he soared over assorted cities and countrysides, he was thinking of his former partner. Was she blaming him for not being there? Was she hoping that he would rescue her? No. He would not belittle her with his own worries. Sally was strong and independent, she wouldn't blame him when she had made the decision to go on her own. And she certainly wasn't sitting around waiting for rescue, she was probably even now figuring out her own escape plan. More puzzling was his own desire to rescue her. As partners, they had always worked together and looked out for each other, but now that they were no longer partners, he no longer had that responsibility. _Maybe_, said a small voice in his mind, _it's because she's become more than just a colleague_. No! He had learned that lesson long ago, love made you vulnerable. _Remember Nataku?_ He asked the voice furiously. _It was a fairy tale, everyone said. Such a perfect union would bring our families great honor, they all said. It was a happily ever after. Well, look what happened to our happily ever after! _He pounded his fist against the control panel of his Gundam, the only link he had to his now-dead wife, the mobile suit that had been meant for her and that he had flown in her name. _People who you care about are people who can hurt you!_ Never again would he give anyone that power. _Fool!_ Retorted the voice,_ do you think you have a choice?_

* * * 

He landed in a forested area on the outskirts of the city where he could hide Atlong, and waited for the cover of night. As soon as it was dark he set out into the city on foot, covering ground quickly. Before long he had reached the building where Sally was being held captive. Luckily, the compound was also a loading port for incoming trucks. He slipped onto one of these while it waited at the gate and, not waiting to reach the unloading port where there would undoubtedly be a thorough check of the vehicle, he slipped off again into a pile of boxes and crossed into the shadows, heading towards the prisoner compound.   
It was no secret where the most important prisoner was being held, a ring of guards surrounded one of the many doors in a long hallway, causing Wufei to stay far back in the shadows. It wasn't his ability to defeat the guards that stayed his hand, but the fact that it would be hard to defeat all of them without sounding the alarm. Then he spotted the intercom on the wall. Surely they wouldn't resort to so primitive and unreliable a method of contact? Maybe it connected the guards outside with someone on the inside, left there to dispatch with the prisoner at a moment's notice. The guards must also have another means of contact, this one with the command center of the base, but they would be counting mainly on the intercom for contact with whoever was watching the prisoner.   
Which meant that if he attacked, he would only have to make sure none of them reached the intercom. Wufei gave a tight smile as he realized where the guards had made their mistake. The door to the cell was completely surrounded, but their only means of communication with the prisoner was set off to one side, near the edge of the protective ring. It would be simple to slip in along the shadows and attack from that side, he would merely have to be sure that none of the guards sneaked in behind him.   
No more than a lithe shadow in the surrounding gloom, Wufei approached the ring of guards. A swift jab to the neck dispatched the first one, and Wufei took up his position in front of the intercom. It took an instant for the guards to realize that they were being attacked, and by the time they located the intruder another of their number bit the dust. Confident at their opponent's smaller size and the fact that Wufei was outnumbered, the remaining guards closed in. In a sudden blur of movement, Wufei sliced the legs out from under one of the men and, sweeping upward, flipped his neighbor on top of him. A swift kick finished them both off, and Wufei turned his attention to the remaining two guards.   
One of them started forward with an ugly sneer on his face and a knife in his fist, but his companion held up a hand, halting him. The leader, for so Wufei assumed he must be, smiled in anticipation and drew his sword, nodding at Wufei to do the same. Accepting the challenge, Wufei drew his own sword and attacked, slicing across in a blow that would have slashed his opponent from shoulder to hip. The man blocked skillfully and retaliated with a series of swift thrusts, causing Wufei to take several steps backward. Then he lunged in an attempt to spit the Gundam pilot on the blade, but Wufei struck it aside with a downward slash and sliced back upward, causing the man to leap backward. With his opponent still off balance, Wufei launched himself forward and felt his sword strike flesh. The man doubled over, clutching his side, and Wufei sensed movement behind him. The remaining guard was looming over Wufei, preparing to plunge his knife into the other's unprotected back when Wufei switched his sword's direction and stabbed back over his shoulder. The man gazed with astonishment at the sword blade that had appeared in his chest before his eyes misted over and he slumped to the ground.   
Extracting his sword from the dead man's body, Wufei turned back to the fallen leader. To his surprise, the man was no longer on the ground but was limping down the hall as fast as he could. Regretfully, Wufei drew his dagger and threw it at the retreating form, which fell back to the ground, never to rise again. It was dishonorable to strike a man from behind, but Wufei could not allow any of the guards to escape.   
The battle had been mainly silent, but Wufei was not willing to trust his luck. Moving to the fallen leader, he searched the body, finding a set of old fashioned keys that matched the lock on the cell door. After retrieving his dagger, Wufei moved to the door of the cell and selected the key that seemed most likely to fit the lock. Dagger ready, he unlocked the door and swung it open, keeping to one side, out of view of anyone in the room.   
One glance told him that his caution had not been in vain. Inside, Sally was seated in a chair, hands tied behind her. Standing to one side, leaning against the wall and almost invisible at first glance, stood another guard, gun in hand.   
Gun in hand, but the firearm was not pointed at Sally. Out of instinct the guard had aimed at the more obvious threat, and his hesitation as impulse and orders conflicted cost him his life. A flicker of movement, and Wufei's dagger buried itself up to the hilt in the guard's neck.   
With a gurgle, the man collapsed to the ground. Sally was staring at Wufei in astonishment, her mouth open in amazement. "Wufei! What are-"   
"Come on, we've got to go," he cut her off, slicing through her bonds. "I took care of the guards, but there's no guarantee that they didn't contact their superiors."   
She stood. Her golden hair was disheveled, but her eyes still shone as brightly as ever and she seemed unharmed. Instantly recovering from her shock, asking no questions, she quickly relieved the dead guard of his gun and joined Wufei at the door.   
After a quick glance down the corridor, Wufei started forward, motioning for Sally to follow him. Moving as a single unit, they made their way down the twisting maze of passages. The hallways were deserted for the most part, and Wufei was just starting to get suspicious when a group of figures turned a corner in front of them. They were strolling along casually, and though the hallway was dimly lighted, they were very likely to spot the two intruders.   
Silently, Wufei and Sally retreated, ducking into a side passage, hoping that the men would pass them by. No such luck. As they retreated further, the group of smugglers turned into the same corridor. Unwilling to continue this game of blind-man's-bluff, the pair scanned the hall behind them for some means of concealment. Wufei noticed a door that was partially open, and, taking a chance, slipped inside, pulling Sally with him.   
The room would have been as dim as the hall outside, if it hadn't been for the screens and control panels inside, which filled the room with an electronic glow. But dim lighting or no, it took no time at all to realize that they were not alone in the room. Two technicians sat at their stations, shocked into silence by Wufei and Sally's sudden appearance. Before either of them could recover, Sally pulled out her gun and aimed it at the two. "Silence." she whispered at them, "Don't move; don't speak." Whether or not they heard her words was questionable, but the universal threat conveyed by the pointed gun spoke clearer than any statement.   
A tense moment passed as all four listened to the sound of passing footsteps in the hall outside. The two technicians sat in petrified silence. When the footsteps had faded, Sally looked at Wufei. "Well, what are we going to do with these two?" She couldn't let them go, since they had seen the intruders, but she was obviously reluctant to kill the pair.   
Wufei solved the problem by reaching out and banging the technicians' heads together. "They won't be a problem." he said curtly, as he shoved the unconscious forms out of view. "Have you realized where we are?"   
Sally nodded. "Control room for the outer defenses. We shut this place down, and Preventer troops would have no problems getting in."   
"But if we simply shut it down, they would have it running again by the time the troops got here." Wufei replied, "We'll have to destroy it."   
"Not necessarily." Sally went over to one of the consoles and started typing, "If I can . . ." Her voice trailed off, and after a few moments she straightened and gave a triumphant smile. "There. I've programmed in an error that will cause the defenses to malfunction if they are activated." She tilted her head to the side apologetically, "Sorry, you don't get to blow it up."   
"Hmpf." was Wufei's only reply as he stuck his head out into the passageway and gestured for her to follow. The rest of the way was uneventful, and eventually they ended up in the loading area, surrounded by the hustle of shipping.   
"This how we're getting out?" Sally asked, her voice barely audible. When Wufei nodded, she questioned further, "Any idea how we're going to get past the guards?" The place was crawling with workers and soldiers, there was no way that they would be able to sneak past them all.   
"We don't." Wufei lead the way behind the loading areas, to where giant boxes were being carried along conveyer belts. "We let them carry us out."   
"What? No explosions? We're just going to sneak out unnoticed?" Sally raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Who are you and what have you done with Wufei?"   
"Very funny." Wufei observed dryly. "I thought you were the one that-" He broke off as a loud alarm sounded out, causing a buzz of agitation among the workers and guards.   
Sally snorted. "Took them long enough to notice I was gone. We'll have to find another way out now, they're probably going to shut down the shipping."   
Wufei shook his head. "It's automated. It will take them awhile to shut everything off. But you're right, we do need to hurry."   
The boxes were big enough to hold several people, so the only problem was wrestling one of them off the conveyer belt. They finally managed it, and pried the top off. When she looked inside, Sally gave a gasp of surprise. "These are mobile suit parts! They must be transporting enough parts for hundreds of suits!"   
"Doesn't matter. Without the outer defenses, this place is a sitting duck; won't take long to shut it down." Wufei started to lift out the contents of the box, emptying it. They raised the box back onto the conveyer belt, and were almost safely inside when a shout was heard. Looking back, Wufei saw a guard standing in the door, yelling into his communicator.   
It was too late to try another means of escape, so as Wufei swung himself into the box, Sally fired her gun, and silence was all that followed them out of the room.   
Carried along the conveyer belt, they replaced the top of the box and waited in tense silence, anticipating the yells that would mean discovery, or the halting of motion that meant the shipping line had been stopped. Nothing happened, however, and soon they were being bumped and jostled by the robotic loaders. After that came the smooth motion and gentle rumbling that meant they were on a truck.   
Wufei waited until he was sure they were out of the compound before he carefully lifted the top of the box. They were in the back of the truck and it was dark, but there would be no problems in getting out. He helped Sally out the box before climbing out himself, and they slipped off of the back of the vehicle. It carried on without them, disappearing past a bend in the surrounding trees, until the yellow glow of its headlights had disappeared, leaving only the slanting moonlight to illuminate the sleeping forest around them.   
They moved few yards into the trees, out of sight of the road. Then Sally turned to Wufei with a smile. "Well, we made it out."   
Wufei nodded, pulled out a small device, and typed in a command sequence. "Wufei!" Sally said, reprovingly, "All that to get out quietly, and now you're going to blow it up anyway?"   
Wufei shook his head. "It's not a detonator." he explained, "It's a remote for my Gundam. I sent a message to Preventer HQ, telling them that we disabled the outer defenses and that they can move in at any time."   
Sally looked away, not meeting his eyes. "And that your rescue mission was successfully completed?" Her voice was bitter.   
"What?"   
"Do you have any idea how embarrassing this is?" she looked at him now, and her eyes held more anger than chagrin. "I go off on a solo mission to prove that I don't need to be protected and patronized, to prove that I am fully capable of handling missions on my own, and what happens? They have to send you out to rescue me."   
_You say that as though anyone else would have been preferable_. And then he realized, with considerable surprise, that anyone else would have been preferable. But why?   
"First of all," he said, slipping the remote back inside his uniform jacket, "They did not send me out to rescue you. Noin tried to order me back to base, and will probably have a court martial waiting for me when I return. And second," He stepped closer, forcing her to meet his eyes. He had grown in the years since their first encounter, and now she had to look _up _at him. "Do you actually think I would burden myself with someone who needed to be protected and patronized?"   
Sally glared up at him for a heartbeat, her eyes blazing in angry frustration, and then she seemed to deflate, as if half of her had known what he was going to say all along, and actually hearing the words allowed her to recognize their truth. "You've got a point," she conceded with a slight smile, "I'm sorry-"   
But before she could get any further, he placed a finger across her lips, halting her explanation. "Don't apologize," he ordered her softly, "There is nothing to forgive." He was suddenly, alarmingly aware of how close together they were standing, but for some reason, he was unable to pull away. His body did not seem to want to obey his commands; instead of retreating to a respectable distance, he found himself leaning closer. The finger he had placed across Sally's lips moved under her chin and, ignoring his increasingly panicked orders to himself to stop, he felt himself bend forward and place his lips gently against Sally's.   
For an instant the universe froze, threatening to whirl around and crash into nothingness._ Baka!_ He screamed at himself, _What do you think you're doing!?_ This couldn't be happening; it wasn't real. Somehow he was back inside the Zero System, and this was some kind of twisted hallucination. The scene, however, did not dissolve into nothingness; if anything it seemed to become more concrete. _But it doesn't really matter, does it?_ An annoyingly familiar voice was nagging him, _as its still your emotions at work._ No. This was ridiculous, he neither needed nor wanted--but his line of reasoning was broken when a thought broke through the haze of self-concern that enveloped his mind. _What would Sally be thinking?_ He had been so wrapped up in the confusion of his own mind that he hadn't stopped to consider how Sally would react. She hadn't moved away, wasn't resisting, but she could simply be paralyzed with shock. Shock that would probably turn to anger and indignation as soon as she had gathered her wits enough to realize what was happening. _I'll just have to apologize_, he thought, _tell her I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it, I never should have . . . _It was a pitifully weak excuse, but until he could explain his actions to himself, there was no way he would be able to explain them to her. _Didn't mean anything by it, hmm?_ observed the part of him that was terrifyingly becoming his voice of reason. _Then why are you still kissing her?_   
He drew back instantly, turning away so that he would not have to meet Sally's eyes; would not have to see the expression of horror and dismay that must be filling them. "My apologies," he blurted, falling back into the formal speech of his upbringing, "I never should have--"   
"Don't apologize." Sally interrupted him softly, "There is nothing to forgive."   
Caught off guard, Wufei looked up, surprised to hear his own words quoted back at him. There was no anger in her face, no dismay, only a serene calm, like that of a sleeper who is slowly emerging from a pleasant dream. Realization slowly began to dawn, and Wufei realized that the mistake he had committed went beyond his own embarrassment and conflicting emotions. If Sally was thinking what it looked like she was thinking, he had just done the stupidest thing he possibly could have done. He remembered the entire reason they were here in the first place. She had wanted to prove . . . How could he have been so blind!   
Oh well, he would have to say this sooner or later, would have to explain. "No, Sally, I do have to apologize, because I didn't mean--"   
But she cut him off again, not with words, but with her eyes, looking at him with such understanding that it was impossible to tell her that she had been wrong. She didn't speak until his words trailed off, but merely waited. "What are you afraid of?" was all she finally said.   
Afraid? Ridiculous. Fear was an emotion he had banished from his life, not acknowledging it, not allowing it. The life of a warrior had no room for fear; he had not been afraid since. . .   
Since the day that Nataku had died. Since the day that his happily ever after had crumbled around him and left him with nothing but a war which he was unprepared to face alone. But he had survived that time, survived the war, and in the process, had discarded his fear like an unwanted garment.   
Wufei opened his mouth to disown fear as he had done many times since that day so long ago, but the words changed on the way to his mouth. "Fairy tales," he heard himself admit in a voice that was so soft he barely recognized it as his own.   
Sally couldn't have understood what he had said, but the knowledge that he had admitted anything was obviously enough for her. Relaxing slightly, she sank to the ground, crossing her legs under her and looking up at him in an invitation to follow her example. He didn't sit, but leaned against a tree, trying to convey the message that he could leave at any time if it suited him. "Wufei," she began, her voice full of conviction, "don't try to tell me that you didn't mean anything just now. I've known you long enough to know that you're not impulsive, long enough to know that you don't often bother with romance, and long enough to know when you're lying." Then the conviction in her voice wavered slightly with uncertainty, "Or at least not telling the entire truth."   
She looked at him, asking for a reply, a response, anything. But he couldn't think of anything to say. The silence stretched on, congealing in the moonlight until it became a substantial thing, a substance that filled the air and pressed against him, stopping any words before they even formed in his mind. What could he say?   
The silence was suffocating him, and with the suffocation came heat. The heat of anger. It was an old defense, but one that had served him well. What was he doing here, wasting his time playing word games? There was nothing he could say that Sally wouldn't twist to serve her own purposes; nothing that he wanted to say to her that would quiet his own turmoil.   
His anger flared outward, dissolving the silence and leaving him free to speak, but there wasn't much that he had to say. "Listen, woman." he snarled, and he was pleased to see Sally jerk slightly with surprise. "I don't know what games you're playing at, but leave me out of them!" He paused just long enough to note with satisfaction the look of dismay on Sally's face before he turned sharply and headed into the forest. Good. If he had to be disorientated and confused, she had no right to seem so calm, so assured, so smug. _And why are you so confused?_ He tried to ignore the question, but it remained, reminding him that he did not have full control over some corner of his mind, and that merely added to his anger.   
"Wufei." Sally's voice followed him out of the clearing, and he stopped in his tracks, not able to run away. He whirled around, still full of righteous anger and resenting her control over him.   
"What do you want now?"   
She hadn't moved from her spot on the forest floor, hadn't even turned her head to follow him with her eyes, and when her voice reached him it seemed to come from miles away, but the words lost none of their impact. "Wufei, do you love me?"   
He felt his mouth open in surprise. Anger was wiped out by pure shock, leaving a kind of numbness in its place. How could she ask that? After what he had just said, how could the question even arise? But the answer at least was easy enough. He was sorry, he didn't want to hurt her, but she couldn't be allowed to go on thinking like this. He would just have to explain to her that they could never be anything but comrades.   
That was what he intended to say, but once more his words changed, twisting into the verbalization of doubts he had never acknowledged. "I don't know," was the answer he heard himself give in the same distant voice that Sally had used, "I'm not sure if I could ever love again."   
His words fell away into silence, but before he could fully grasp what his subconscious had just admitted to a third party without consulting him as a midpoint, Sally rose to her feet and turned to face him.   
"Thank you," she said, and, showing unusual shyness, did not meet his eyes as she went on. "Thank you for the truth. But . . . I will not insult your honesty by telling you that I share your uncertainty."   
Yes. Sally loved him. She had probably always loved him, and he had been too blinded by his own selfishness to realize it. He wanted to apologize, but the words wouldn't come, and besides, he had a feeling that she wouldn't want an apology.   
Suddenly, the forest stillness was broken by the thunder of an approaching vehicle. Yellow headlights sliced through the trees and stopped just short of them as the vehicle ground to a stop. Wufei's body tensed, ready to fight if the smugglers had returned, but the voice that drifted through the trees was not that of the enemy. "Commander Sally? Commander Chang? Is that you?"   
"Yes, it's us," Sally called back. "How did you find us?"   
"We picked up your signal. Need a ride?"   
"Sure." Sally turned to face him, her voice soft. "Wufei, I can't pretend to understand how you feel. But, if you never allow yourself to become close to anyone, you'll never find out how much you can care for them. Will you come with me? Will you try to find out?"   
Wufei didn't answer right away. _Fairy tales_, he thought. Did he want another happily ever after for the fates to rip apart? He wondered if he would be able to say no, wondered if his words would betray him again, wondered if he really wanted to decline. Didn't he owe this to her? She had been waiting a long time. Didn't he owe them both this chance?   
He opened his mouth to reply, and this time his words stayed the same. "Yes, I will." Fairy tales be damned.   
They went back to the road, back to the military truck that was waiting for them. They climbed into the back and, as the night road unwound behind them, Wufei spoke. "Are you sure this is what you want? I can't be your Prince Charming, I can't give you a happily ever after." He wanted her to know what she was getting into, wanted her to know that he couldn't make any promises.   
"I know, and I'm sure." In the darkness, he could almost hear her smile. "If I'd wanted a happily ever after, I would have stayed with Leon."   
Wufei sat bolt upright. "Leon?! Who's Leon!?" 

THE END 

Author's Notes: Okay, first of all, I apologize: this is my first attempt at romance and in my opinion, was successful only in that it proved I *cannot* write romance. I know there are several inaccuracies; Noin is supposed to be on Mars and the Gundams are supposedly history, but I started writing this before I saw Endless Waltz (Yeah, *before* Endless Waltz. This thing has taken me forever to write!) and decided that the parts in question were trivial enough, so as I said before, just put this one in the alternate timeline genre. Also, in case you're wondering, the title is the name of a track from the GW Operation 3 CD.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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